


Tense

by Leernearqueerfear



Category: The Social Network (2010)
Genre: Alternate Ending, I guess???, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-25 23:05:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16207544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leernearqueerfear/pseuds/Leernearqueerfear
Summary: Mark is sending the friend request to Erica from the deserted building, he thinks nothing could make him feel more isolated; he’s wrong.





	1. Chapter 1

Tensions were rising beyond belief. The whole class had decent hearing and likely all had genius IQs, which meant that they were more than capable of understanding that the bell had rung ten minutes ago and that that sound is supposed to be their ticket to freedom. And yet, the teacher kept fucking talking, like he was testing their willpower or something dumb like that; you took the class, you think you can handle applying fucking honors abstract algebra if you can’t even handle an extra ten minutes in class!? Get fucking **real**!

Whether he was doing this on purpose or not was irrelevant to Mark, who already felt that this class was barely stimulating to his massive brain in the first place. It was certainly not worth the time that could’ve been better spent playing on his laptop in the privacy of his own dorm. He started clicking his pen over and over (a gesture definitely not appreciated by his classmates, all of whom would’ve told him to stop if only that didn’t involve talking to him) but he stayed firmly in his seat, he wanted to test something and this actually provided a pretty convenient way to do it.

After another _**fifteen**_ outrageous, torturous, _b o r i n g_ minutes, the teacher finally let them all go. Everyone raced to the door but Mark took his time putting away all his shit, and let everyone leave ahead of him. When he finally walked out the door he looked over his surroundings and spotted the boy he was looking for; Eduardo, he was still there, he had waited. Mark felt a smug smile form on his lips as his friend walked over with an expression that made it clear he had a lot to say about his wait time in the hallway.

“ ** _Mark!_** _Finally_! What the hell were you guys doing in there?? If it wasn’t like curing cancer it was not worth what I was put through out here.” He kept talking as he slung his arm over the others’ shoulders and started (at a mildly alarming pace) walking away from the class, “I decided like two minutes in I’d just squat against the wall thinking it wouldn’t be too long until you’d come out, but _hooly_ _shit_ was it long and _hooly_ _shit_ did my legs start to burn.”

Mark eyed his best friend like he was either stupid or crazy, “Wardo why didn’t you just stand up?”

“That’s the THING! I would’ve, but as I was squatting there this girl came over and sat down next to me and started a conversation; if I had sat down then after she’d seen I’d been squatting before, she’d think I was some wimp who couldn’t handle it and I’d never earn her respect back!”

Mark ignored his weird I-need-everyone-to-like-me thing even though in his head he was 100% ready to tease him over it, “I didn’t notice a girl sitting with you.”

Wardo rolled his eyes, “You don’t notice anything Mark.”

“Possibly”

They kept walking toward the exit of the school and Wardo told him about the various dramatic events of his day while Mark mostly just replied with quick retorts. He didn’t totally show it but he was in a really good mood; it was weird, and he knew it was weird, but whenever he could he liked to make his friend wait for him. Something about it made him feel like he was somebody really important, like even though he was a lot to handle and most people would rather be handcuffed to a serial killer than hold a real conversation with him, it was fine because he always had Wardo. Eduardo could put up with _anything_.

He fought the urge to grin like an idiot as Eduardo spoke, “so you _exciiited_?” He drew out the word excited and wiggled his eyebrows at Mark, “about _toniiight_??” if he was at all concerned about grinning and looking like an idiot as he messed with Mark, it didn’t show.

Mark sighed, “oh yeah never been so excited in my life”


	2. Chapter 2

A slightly older, but significantly less excited Mark sat at an empty table, in an empty room, hitting refresh on his own website over and over again. He’d been doing so in a trance-like state for almost twenty minutes straight now, waiting to see that Erica has accepted his friend request; and as he waited he got more and more annoyed.

He’s the one who made the stupid website, I mean the bitch was using his _own_ website to insult him again, and like, for what?! Because he called her a bitch online after she broke up with him and said nobody would ever like him because he’s an _asshole_? If anything they were even then because they each got their insults in at each other, and at _this_ point she actually sorta owes him when you think about it. She wouldn’t have a Facebook to reject him on if he didn’t invent it! His face didn’t change but on the inside he was boiling, he felt like he was the only rational person left on the whole fucking planet.

He rolled his eyes. Cursed her out in his head. Hit refresh... Then he cursed her out in his head again.

Totally fed up with her and her stupid profile picture of her having the time of her life someplace far from him, he threw his body back against the chair and slumped down in frustration. He sat there for awhile, arms crossed, trying to burn a hole in the laptop with his eyes, composing himself like a child that didn’t get their way. He decided to look at literally anything else in the room so that he wouldn’t have to keep staring at that insulting screen. But he’d only been looking around for two seconds before his eyes landed on an object somehow even more loaded with baggage than the goddamn computer; Eduardo’s coat, hanging off the back of his chair.

Talk about an irrational person; that dick was only let into this new world because Mark had brought him there with him. Then he had the audacity to turn around and demand more from him, like he had done anything to earn it! Not only that, but he _humiliated_ Mark to the point where even his own lawyers were looking at him like he was an asshole, or at least that he was trying hard to be one, whatever the fuck that means.

He found himself glaring hard at the coat, a part of him was itching to get up and burn it, or throw it out the window, or employ any number of other methods in wrecking it. A smaller part of him (and in _his_ mind; a WAY smaller part) wanted to go across the table and get into it himself, wear it out of the building. Not that he was thinking about it or anything but he was sure that thing would still have a very distinct Eduardo scent lingering on it. His cologne was _always_ way too strong. It had bothered Mark when he first met him, but as they spent more time together he grew kinda fond of the odor, more-so the way it made it impossible for Eduardo to sneak up on him.

Honestly the smell didn’t seem like something that would really suit Eduardo, somehow it smelt like how you imagine the ridiculously wealthy to smell; but he guessed that must’ve been because he had always aimed to be ridiculously wealthy. Spray for the job you want not the job you have? Whatever, now it seemed like he really was gonna get that rich; but only by standing on Marks’ shoulders! He emphasized that part in his head for obvious reasons. He grimaced, shit, he must’ve really been thinking about the smell hard because he felt like the coat was directly under his nose, that smell was suddenly ever-

“Erica Albright?”

Mark jumped so hard he almost fell out of the seat


	3. Chapter 3

“This really, really, really sucks.” They were both thinking it but Eduardo was the one to finally vocalize it.

“Yeah I’m inclined to agree with you on that one. This is literally the most boring party I’ve ever been to and I’m including the times when someone orders a pizza to class and everyone gets excited and calls it a party.”

“Yikes”

“And I don’t even like pizza”

“Ouch........ that was just you trying to emphasize how much you dislike this and not your honest opinion on pizza, right?”

Mark arched an eyebrow at him, “would it make you feel better if I said that?”

“I mean now I feel like it would kinda feel insincere either way”

“It was a lie, just exaggeration for the sake of exaggeration”

Wardo didn’t look impressed, “mm-hmmmm, come on, at least we can get shit-faced, that always makes things better.” He grabbed him and pulled him along towards the bar, Mark honestly couldn’t think of any flaw in his line of reasoning, so he went.

Two hours passed and it seemed like Wardo had been right on the money with his statement, because now they were giggling excitedly, hiding under a table (for like no reason by the way, like literally nobody cared what they were doing, they had no reason to hide they’re just actually stupid and- whatever, never mind) as Mark plugged away on his laptop, doing some major hacking.

Eduardo didn’t even know why the image was so funny to him but he couldn’t stop laughing and hyping mark up for the job, while hitting his back in a frenzy, “come on Mark!!you’re my man,, if you can’t hack it! no one can”

“Mhm”

Eduardo started laughing even harder and slapping his back faster and faster the more he did, “Mark why the fuck did you bring your laptop to a party??! Were you planning this all along? You’re such afucking criminal”

All the while Wardo keeps laughing as Mark tries to answer while focusing, “i I brought my whole bag.” No way that sentence should’ve elicited the response it did from Wardo. But upon hearing this he threw himself over the hunched back of the still hard-at-work Mark, cracking up more than ever before and repeatedly smacking his fist against the floor while saying something barely comprehensible about how dorky it was to bring your backpack to a party.

“It’s still at the school,,,,,not that weird” Mark grumbled, not fully appreciating being mocked and abused by his friend. Eduardo lifted himself off Mark and bumped his head on the table, although he seemed to hardly notice as he tried to compose himself and wipe out the small tears that were building in the corner of his eyes from the laughing.

“Almost done Wardo”

“Ok, great, wonderful, I’m gonna go pee, real quick, DONT! start it without me!” Mark didn’t look up from his computer, “Wardo, no” he kinda sounded like he was talking to a dog but they were both too drunk for that to turn into a squabble, “don’t go, you’ll break the seal, then you won’t be able to stop peeing all night”

“That’s not a real thing”

“ _I_ said it’s a real thing and I have an IQ of like seven million”

Wardo laughed and crawled out anyway, flipping Mark off as he went out. Mark kept clicking away, “whatever”, he grumbled, “he’ll learn”...

But almost right after he said that he got bored of sitting there by himself, so he got out and ran to the bathroom holding his laptop open in his left arm and continuing to type with his right hand. “YO” he yelled as he tried to kick the bathroom door open, it didn’t open and for some reason he figured if he kept kicking eventually it would; so he kicked and hacked and yelled yo several more times hoping to recapture his original confidence in his use of the word.

Eventually the door did open, not because he was kicking it but because a boy who was consequently _much_ less drunk than he was had just finished washing his hands and was leaving. Mark nodded at him and smiled as if they had worked together to tackle the obstacle of the door, and then walked past him. He spotted Wardo at the farthest urinal, “YOO” he yelled as he made his way toward him. Wardo jumped in surprise, when he looked and saw Mark he echoed his yoo and then looked back to what he was doing, no doubt it was gonna take some fucking concentration. Mark didn’t seem to get that though as he stood right next to him and continuously chastised him for not listening, Wardo shot him a dirty look.

“ _Ooh_ first time seeing that face tonight, you’re not gonna become a ridiculously angry drunk as opposed to a ridiculously happy drunk now, are you?”

“I MIGHT”

By the time they got out of the bathroom Mark was finally done hacking and now had access to the big screen over the dj booth (obviously hacking has never been the thing that got me interested in the movie, I don’t actually know how tf it works don’t @ me) he set everything up and then turned to Wardo.

Wardo had just been staring at his face, so when Mark turned to him he almost jumped, but he didn’t, he held it together and remained calm, even if they were looking each other in the eyes now. Mark smiled at him in a cheeky way and Wardo thought he might have missed something, “what??” He was relieved that the blood in his cheeks could be blamed on the alcohol if Mark were to ask. “Would you do the honors?” he extended the laptop out to Eduardo.

For inexplicable, drunk reasons, this made Eduardo feel really warm and almost emotional, like he was just acknowledged by an idol rather than a friend. He decide to hold off on the confusing thoughts and nodded, grinning like always. He smashed that enter button and on the screen a video popped up that I’ll think of later because I can’t think of any funny outrageous videos lmao. The whole dance floor erupted into laughter, Eduardo put his arm on Marks shoulder and leaned against it, “oh Mark, it’s beautiful.” He said it without even a hint of irony, his eyes were practically glittering with a childlike sense of wonder.

Unfortunately this made Mark laugh his ass off and the solid support system of his shoulder was compromised; poor Wardo went down like a tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol sorry the chapters are gonna continue getting longer throughout, idk how to shut up it’s fine.


	4. Chapter 4

“Did you guys get back together?” Eduardo asked, unable to muster up any fake interest in Mark possibly dating Erica again. Mark just slammed the laptop shut, “I thought you left. Why are you back?”

Eduardo rolled his eyes and walked across the table, “Relax, I’m not here to fight or anything, I just forgot my coat.”

“Oh” Mark couldn’t stop the disappointment in his voice, he wasn’t there to see him again, he had to remind himself that he hated him now...

Which was totally fine because Mark hated him even more.

 _Obviously_ he did because he was just scheming to defile his coat, does that sound like someone who _doesn’t_ hate someone else? No I don’t think so. Still, he had to make up for that ‘Oh’, that sounded bad, it gave the wrong impression, he didn’t wanna say oh, he wanted to say- “yeah I’m not surprised you forgot it, you kept spinning around in your chair like you were channeling your inner depressed Bond villain, you were probably too focused on that.” he felt like it came off as kinda stupid, but at least he’d said something else, struck the oh from the record in his head.

Eduardo didn’t look impressed, “whatever, Mark” he pulled the coat off the chair as Mark stared, looking more than a little bitter at not getting any reaction out of him. He couldn’t help but feel like he had some of the worst luck in the world, he’d gone out, gotten rained on all day, and when he finally comes back for his coat this prick is still fricken here. The whole building is practically empty (they were the only people on this particular floor) and yet of course _he’s_ still here.

“Oh come on, I just listened to you insult me for months on end and now I have to write you a check, you can’t even laugh at my joke?”

Eduardo glared at him as he pulled on his coat, “That joke was hilarious Mark, bye” he started making for the door but Mark moved with nervous energy quickly over to where he was and grabbed his shoulder, “Would you _wait_?!” he hated looking so obviously shaken but his body was moving on it’s own.

“For _what_ Mark? Did I not insult you enough before? You need more!? You really need attention _that_ bad?” It may seem like he’s an emotionally unhinged person or something, and maybe he was, but he was literally soaking wet and just wanting to go home. He had not been prepared with the mental stamina required to hold a conversation with the man writing him a check.

Meanwhile, Mark couldn’t even make sense of what he was doing so it was totally useless to try to explain it to Eduardo. He knew logically that he hated him now, but as soon as he was looking at him in the eyes, he also knew that wasn’t even close to true. In truth the only thing he could feel when he looked at the man was a very deep sense of shame. He’d hurt him, more than Erica or the Winklevosses or anyone else, he’d really, deeply, _hurt_ him. So much so that a huge chunk of his brilliant mind was saying that the _only_ solution was to let Eduardo beat the shit out of him to feel better about it.... but he also didn’t want to get beat up so that was out.

“Mark!” Eduardo’s voice shook him out of his thoughts and he made eye contact again, it didn’t feel good, “Wait for what Mark? What do you **want**?!” the look in his eyes made it seem like if Mark did change his mind and decide he wanted Eduardo to beat the shit out of him, it wouldn’t take much convincing.

“Can you- can we-“ the billionaire took a deep, only sorta shaky, breath, “can we just sit and talk for like a minute, just us?” he wasn’t really sure what puppy eyes looked like on him, and they could’ve very easily looked creepy as hell, but he gave it a shot anyway. Eduardo took a deep breath too, but he was now much more visually composed, as if he had sucked out the confidence Mark had tried to muster and absorbed it for himself.

“I’m not waiting here for more than ten minutes”

“Deal!”

With that they awkwardly made their way back to the table and sat down next to each other as opposed to across from each other like before. Mark found he liked it better this way, Eduardo didn’t. He stared at Mark expectantly, although he wasn’t sure what to expect. For awhile neither of them said anything, Mark kept opening his mouth like he was about to start and then he’d just close it again... “Do you wanna know my side of the story?” that was what he went with, right off the bat, _my_ side; and at first Eduardo was so shocked he just sat there blinking at him, but then...

“Go fuck yourself” He decided he didn’t actually have to stay here after all and stood up, Mark followed suit, “Wa-“

“ ** _NO_**! **Mark**! I don’t want to hear your side of the fucking story, everybody in the world knows your side of the fucking story! You fucked with people your whole life and somehow I honestly feel like this is the first time you have _ever_ been held accountable for what you’ve done, and now you want to turn yourself into the _victim_?!” The more he yelled the closer he got to Mark, Mark continued to back away from him until he felt he was up against the wall, he had no choice but to stand there and listen to his old friend go on.

“I can’t believe how much time I wasted on a fucking pretentious, spoiled, irredeemable _asshole_ like you! I’m just- I’m dumbfounded! Why the fuck did I stay by you for so long?? You never **once** cared about me, you had your whole life planned and you knew from the very beginning I was never going to be impressive enough to fit in that plan! And you LOVED that, like I was a charity case, like I should’ve been _so_ honored to be with you, it must’ve made you feel _**so**_ big!” he smacked his own forehead in frustration, “and I played into it the whole way! I let you make me feel like I was nothing without you, I let you control my own happiness and self esteem and all the other shit I was _fine_ with before I met you!!”

Mark felt like if he didn’t push back he could never look at himself in the mirror again, “Oh what are you _saying_!? I schemed and manipulated through our whole friendship? I ruined your life?” He was saying it in a don’t-be-ridiculous-listen-to-yourself way so he really was stunned when Eduardo replied louder than he’d ever heard him before; “ **YES!** Yes, you ruined my _fucking_ life!!” He was in Marks face when he said it, his own face completely red from the yelling, the veins in his neck popping out.

He meant it.

He pulled back and tried his best to cool down, “You really don’t get it, do you? I mean _fuck_ I’m starting to worry this whole time I really was best friends with a sociopath. How do you not get that that’s what I’ve been saying this whole time?” His voice was genuinely incredulous, and as he continued he kept his volume down, but somehow this tone felt even worse. “Mark.. I’m not saying this because I want to hurt you but, honestly, I don’t know how to make you understand when you don’t know how to sympathize with other people.” He shrugged, and it looked fucking weird because he was **so** not believable in looking unaffected, he really looked like he could burst at any second.

Mark stared him down, “Wardo please, I-“ he cleared his throat, “I’m not as evil as you’re making me out to be, I didn’t mean to hurt y-“

“Yes you did” and he didn’t say it like a suggestion, and they both knew that he was right. Mark had known how much it would mean to Eduardo’s father to see his son as a successful business man standing side by side with his genius best friend, ready to create a whole new industry. He’d known what that would mean to him and he’d known what it would mean to him to have his son made to look like an ass, kicked out of the company he had caught the bill for. He’d known and he’d done what he did anyway.

He was silent for a while and Eduardo stared at him intensely, challenging him with his face to try to deny his nasty intent, “...I did” he finally said, and at that Eduardo felt his face soften just a little, at least he was _finally_ admitting he was wrong.

“I know, I did; but _Wardo_ , look at it from my side for just a _second_ -“

“Oh my god” should’ve known.

“No **PLEASE** , hear me out, ok? California; I was out there without you Wardo, I was out there with Sean, and he was older and he was professional, and he knew shit we didn’t know. I thought I _had_ to trust him more than anyone for this thing to really get off the ground, and from him, he didn’t want me anywhere near you-“

“Because he knew I was right about him! He just didn’t want you hearing from me enough to make you open your eyes, that’s the on-“

“Ok yes you were right, Sean was coo coo for coco puffs but-“

“But HE still owns seven percent!”

“Yes ok yeah he still owns seven percent”

“So where are you going with this Mark? Because from where I’m standing it’s simple; if you _wanted_ to pick me you would’ve _picked_ me!”

“He had me thinking you were conspiring against us!”

“I’m the reason you were there!!”

“I know!” He stopped for a second to breathe, “I know. I fucked up..”

He kept talking but Eduardo couldn’t even be bothered to listen to his words, he just studied his panicked face. It’s not like it’s the first time he’s seen it, I mean Christ every time something didn’t go his way it was just that panicked face and the words “I need you” and Eduardo was suddenly all Team Mark again. He couldn’t let him do it again, he had to take responsibility for once.

Eduardo took a deep inhale through his nose and exhale through his mouth, something he was pretty sure he’d heard someone say was the best way to breathe if you wanted to steady yourself; then he spoke, “Mark, stop talking”

At this remark Mark looked at Eduardo’s face and something in it made him panic more than he ever had before. So he ignored his words, started talking faster and with more gesticulations, as if he knew he had a way of making the other guy understand, he just had to figure out what it was. Eduardo groaned in frustration.

He slammed his left hand against the wall behind Mark to catch him off guard, which he did, “ ** _Mark_**!” and he finally shut up.


	5. Chapter 5

“I’m **serious** Mark!” Wardo complained as Mark unlocked his door and put the key back in his bag. “I know you’re serious, but that’s just because you don’t know who you’re talking to right now” he insisted, walking backwards into the room so he could still face Wardo, who had just rolled his eyes at his comment. “ _I_ don’t know who I’m talking to, huh? Pfffff you _wish_ I didn’t know who I was talking to.”

“ _No_ idea what that’s supposed to mean,” he collapsed on the couch and gestured for Wardo to sit with him, “all I’m saying is there’s no way they could track it down to me, and who would care anyway? It was funny.”

Wardo complied with Mark’s gesture and sat leaning heavily towards him so he could emphasize his words and shake his finger at him disapprovingly, “Say that when they kick you the fuck outta Harvard for a joke!”

“Yeah yeah”

Wardo smacked his arm jokingly, it wasn’t like he could muster up enough energy to put into a real punch, so this one took place practically in slow motion and through a _lot_ of chuckling, Mark smiled stupidly at the gentle action. Still, he felt the need to complain about the amount of physical abuse he’d endured throughout the night, so he tried out an annoyed face, “Ay! What’s the point in having friends if they just beat you whenever you’re together, that’s supposed to be an enemy thing”

Wardo shook his hand dismissively, “ _naaa_!”

Arched eyebrow; “ _Naaa_? What’s that response?????”

“That response is _naaa_ ” he said like this was something that really helped clarify. Seeing Mark get increasingly confused and frustrated was hilarious to him and it was taking everything he had to suppress his laughter. “Mark I’m not beating you up, I’m like, you know, roughhousing with you, male bonding and shit.”

Marks face turned disbelieving, “Where does it say that to bond with men you have to physically hit them??”

Wardo clearly was ready as hell to clarify this, like it was something he had thought about a lot; “The magic male bible of ‘no homo’!” He laughed at himself, but was disappointed when Mark gave a look like he was not understanding a word Wardo was saying, and would’ve preferred if the conversation had stayed exclusively on his mistreatment and not turned into a discussion about constricting gender roles, or whatever this was. “Come on Mark, I didn’t hit you _that_ hard.”

“Bet I’ve got bruises”

“You do NOT have bruises”

“What, do you have like x-ray vision or something? You don’t know”

“So take your shirt off!”

Now it was Mark’s turn to smack Wardo indignantly, “Screw _you_ , pervert!” god it was like he hadn’t been embarrassed about asking him to do something like that at all. He realized it might not have seemed weird to Wardo because he was secure in his body and he had every reason to be, but Mark did not need the mystery of just how scrawny he was under his various hoodies to be solved just yet.

Wardo snorted, “Mark we’re both guys I’m not trying to sexually harass you. Keep your shirt on then if you’re gonna make a deal about it, I don’t care.” he settled down into the crease of the couch and closed his eyes while exhaling softly, he looked ridiculously calm and Mark felt a strong tug in his stomach.

He must’ve been really drunk, what other reason could there be for the way he looked at Wardo now; like he wanted to rest his head on the others’ chest and just stay there listening to his heart until both of theirs stopped. Alcohol sure is funny to invent feelings like _that_. _ha haha hah ahu h uh uhuhe ahahhe ha haha h ah hha h uh uhuhe aha he ha hah ha YHE a hah ahu h uh uhu he ahahhe **HA**! (Please note this was intended as a nervous denial laugh not the author having a nervous breakdown, thank you)_

Anyway, Mark was hosting an internal debate about whether or not it would be too weird if he were to lean in a little more and rest his weight on Wardo, when the peaceful guy’s eyes shot open in what looked like a panic.

For a split second Mark worried he had read his thoughts and practically leapt away to the other side of the couch, “ _W_ _hat!?_ ” he yelled in alarm. Wardo met his eyes with a hint of urgency in his own, before simply saying, “I gotta **piss**!” and with that he dashed off the couch and towards the bathroom yelling that he wasn’t gonna make it. Mark sat there in a state of shock for a second before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose, “I _told_ you not to break the seal!” He yelled after him.

“Fuck _youuu_ ”

Mark rolled his eyes as he heard Wardo let out a sigh of relief from the other room, gross. He decided that while Wardo wasn’t in the room, now was an ideal time to check for the bruises he was sure he’d have on his back from all his “bonding” today; he took off his shirt and started straining his neck to try to see over his own shoulder. He knew it! There were bruises! Shit, he should’ve bet him money.

His excitement about his being right immediately dissipated as the shirt he had put down on the couch next to him was suddenly grabbed by Wardo, who had somehow managed to get in front of him without Mark having noticed. “Wardo. Not funny.” He tried grabbing it out of his hand.

Wardo seemed to disagree, cackling like a mad man as he continuously held the shirt back just far enough for Mark not to reach, “I think you’re the one who doesn’t know who they’re talking to Mark, I’m crafty as fuck.”

“Yeah yeah you’re not the blockhead I once took you for, happy? Gimme the shirt” he really wasn’t enjoying this, he was a private person and he didn’t want to be standing here shirtless in front of anyone; but especially not Wardo, one of the few people Mark actually cared about liking him. Wardo didn’t pick up on this, he was shit-faced, and he thought the sight of Mark trying to grab at his shirt was even more hilarious than that of him hunched over his laptop feverishly typing under a table at a party.

“If you want it, come claim it!” He shouted as he took off running around the room in actual physical pain at this point from all the laughing he’d been doing all night, Mark chased him in an increasingly frustrated condition. Somehow it didn’t occur to Mark that this was his dorm, he literally could’ve walked ten feet in any direction and found another perfectly good shirt to put on (this was something Wardo only realized the next day and you can bet your ass he gave him shit for it). “Wardo come _on_ ”

Wardo turned and started running backwards, somehow still able to outrun Mark, he swung the shirt around his own neck, “Mark I know this isn’t something you’d experiment with yourself, but doesn’t it make kind of a chic scarf??”

“I’m gonna kill you! I hope it’s worth it!”

“Of cou-“ before Wardo could finish his sentence he bumped the side of the couch with his legs and Mark took the opportunity to straight up tackle him onto it. He felt like he was being a bit of a badass but in reality it was a really clumsy tackle and it made it really obvious he’d never done this before. Wardo groaned, then looked down at Mark’s bare, bruised back on top of him; “Oh shit you were right” he said slipping his arm underneath Marks’ to poke at the bruises on his back.

The gesture made Mark shoot up like a bullet, which stunned Wardo even though it shouldn’t have, because of _course_ that’s how he would react. “Obviously I was, I’m  always right Wardo, when will you ever learn anything about me???” He said finally snatching the shirt back from around his neck. Wardo felt like he could die of fondness and couldn’t help but smile as he sat up and faced Mark, “Sorry, how could I have forgotten?”

“I have no idea” Mark replied dryly, but seconds later he was finally smiling again as he slipped the shirt back on. Wardo stared at his expression as it was somewhat of a rarity to be able to look him directly in the face like this, he always seemed to be behind a book or computer or something else creating distance between them, he much preferred this. “What’s with the face Weirdo-Wardo?” Mark asked, feeling sort of exposed being looked at like that by him.

Wardo ignored the weirdo comment and laughed, “You know, sometimes I think you’re the only thing about this college experience that I actually enjoy.”

Mark scoffed and spoke without bothering to think first, “ _guh_ that’s nothing, sometimes I think you’re the only thing about my _life_ I actually en-“

Watching the scene from the outside you’d think that what Mark had just done was enchant a curse to stop time, because they both _f r o z e_.

Wardo felt his breathing just halt right where it was when he heard Mark’s words. That was not something that Mark says, Wardo constantly found himself questioning whether or not Mark even liked him when they spent time together. He’d definitely been previously convinced that their relationship was solely built on Wardo liking him and giving him the attention he wanted, then in return Mark would tolerate him and let him get all up in his business even if it wasn’t something he let others do.

He stared at the other boy in absolute disbelief, and he noticed that he wasn’t looking at him anymore, rather he found himself entranced with a picture on the other side of the room, far from his view of Wardo. His face made him look mildly constipated and it couldn’t have been more red.

Wardo smiled softly, he felt like leaning in and kissing him, but he knew that wasn’t the kind of thing Mark had been referring to and it subsequently would’ve ended the friendship that was finally validated by him. So he resisted. He settled for punching Mark again forcing him to give him his attention; he held his eyes as soon as they turned back to him and tried to convey with just a look that Mark had no reason to be embarrassed. Mark’s constipated expression started gradually softening, and eventually as Wardo began laughing Mark joined him until they were both in hysterics, without having to exchange a word.

Wardo tried to catch his breath again and wiped his eyes, “God Mark maybe I really don’t know who I’m talking to, you were right after all.”

“Shut up” he smacked him and smiled.


	6. Chapter 6

Eduardo’s breath was heavy on Mark’s face as they both stood there in silence. He felt a little stupid at having so effectively shut Mark up (a rare thing, trust) and now not being able to express anything to him, he should’ve come up with a plan before the yell. He looked over every detail of Mark’s face, trying to remember what it was that Mark had done that made him so angry; looking at him now he almost felt like _he_ was the evil one, like he’d just stolen the nerds’ lunch money or something.

While Eduardo was mulling over what he had to say, Mark stood there with his back firmly against the wall; he’d never felt so small before in his life. Since when was Eduardo this macho, intimidating man? He’d always thought of him as more of a human-puppy type. He could tell he was just concentrating on his next move in the situation, but his concentration face was WAY too close to his angry face and Mark is a wimp to the very core, every second of this was _torture_.

Finally he really couldn’t take it anymore, he had to break the silence, “Eduardo-“ he immediately flinched when the other man lifted up his right hand; it was really happening, Eduardo was really gonna beat the shit out of him to feel better about everything, _fuck_. But the impact he was waiting for never took place; the hand went to his face, sure, but instead of a smack it gently cupped it, it was warm. This was something that shocked him way more than a slap would have, and he gave Eduardo a face that made that clear.

Eduardo didn’t say anything, he tilted Marks’ head slightly and slowly leaned in and kissed him.

It wasn’t a long kiss, he didn’t want to be a dick and justify taking advantage of his old friend by reasoning that he’d hurt him first, he didn’t want to be that guy. At the same time he didn’t want to be this guy either; one that’s so pathetic he can only admit to his feelings when there’s no more stakes, no more hope for there ever being something there. He felt like an idiot. Mark’s lips were soft.

“Wardo..”

He jolted into reality again, and upon being there he noticed his hand had still been attached to Mark, although it had dropped onto his shoulder; he pulled both of his arms back and stepped away from him. God that did not feel like an idea that paid off. He sighed, “Mark,” he needed to pause to breathe again, his heart was beating so fast it was practically all he could hear but he kept talking, “I’ve always...liked you.” 

They both understood that the word like was being used as a direct swap out because that other one would’ve been too much for either of them to process after all this; the shocked man didn’t feel any need to push him further where that was concerned. Mark had never felt his emotions yo-yo so much in such a short span of time and at this point he could hardly keep up with what was going on.

Wardo _liked_ him? _Wardo????_ He was just talking about Christy a few days ago (he was saying how crazy she was and how afraid of her he was, but he honestly thought that was just how people talked about their ex-girlfriends). And why would he be telling him this now? Had he forgiven him? Was he dropping the charges? Was he just fucking with him?? It did not fucking compute.

He normally would’ve found some way to release his own tension in times like this by making fun of the other person, he had to make sure no matter what that he was never the vulnerable one. But in this case... Eduardo’s face already appeared more vulnerable than he’d ever seen it; the shame from before magnified to the extent that he just wanted to sit down and bury his head in his knees and block this whole thing out. Instead he eyed Eduardo warily, and decided to be blunt, “Are you fucking with me?”

“No”

The response was immediate and Mark couldn’t detect a hint of insincerity in it. Wardo _liked_ Mark; like _liked_ liked him. How is it possible that the person who spent the most time with him, could still like him through that? He couldn’t understand in the slightest but the more it sunk in the more Mark could feel his chest swell, he wanted to go back and re-experience everything he’d ever done with Eduardo, but with this knowledge.

Maybe if they’d been together Mark wouldn’t have gotten bitter when he thought Wardo was trying to have his career away from him, would’ve told Sean he had to hit the road when he started questioning Wardo’s intentions, would’ve shared what he had instead of constantly trying to pit himself against him in terms of accomplishments.

“It wouldn’t have been any different.” It seemed suspiciously like Eduardo really could read minds, but in reality he knew what Mark had been thinking because he’d gone over it a million times in his own head.

Mark’s eyebrows furrowed together, “How could you know that?”

“Because I know you Mark, whether you like it or not.”

This silenced him for a second, but he quickly started defending himself, “There’s no way you could possibly know what I would’ve done, I don’t even know what I would’ve done.”

To be _completely_ honest, he had all but had enough of talking about what he’d done, what he was really wanting to bring up was how this was gonna play out now. Mark might’ve never suspected that his friend had the hots for him because he’s just _that_ bad at reading people; but now that he did know he wasn’t at all weirded out by the thought of being with him.

He even started thinking maybe he had liked him the whole time he just didn’t have the social intelligence to realize it. His thoughts were suddenly all coming up lovely, it dawned on him that Wardo behaving like the star of a soap and leaving the room with such melodrama that he forgot his coat on his chair might have been the best thing that ever happened to him (his mind auto-filled the phrase “behind founding Facebook”, but once he thought it he knew immediately that this offered him way more than that stupid website ever could).

Eduardo watched him deep in thought, he kept thinking he should stop him before he let himself get carried away, but at the same time he felt like this was fair. After all, he had soaked in these nice feelings before too, and nobody had warned him to stop. He sighed, “But I do though, Mark”

Mark looked up and it became obvious that he had very well forgotten the last thing he said before being left alone with his thoughts. Eduardo wanted to roll his eyes but felt that it would be just a _little_ too insensitive considering the news he was trying to deliver, “I know what you would’ve done Mark, and it would’ve been the same.”

Mark was trying not to get annoyed at the harping on the past thing again but after being the plaintiff in two separate lawsuits revolving around what an inconsiderate prick he was, it was _really_ starting to get on his nerves. “Who _cares_ what I would’ve done? You do know that there’s nothing in the way of making this work now, right?”

“There is something in the way of us making this work now Mark that’s what I’m trying to tell you.” His voice was picking up a little venom after the whole who cares what I did comment, but it was nothing compared to the next sudden change in Mark’s tone.

Before he spoke he seemed to have a mini mental breakdown as he just straight up lifted up his hoodie and muffled a groan/yell through it for a second; he raised his head and spoke again, “ **God**! Ok so _what_? What now!? What’s in the fucking way now Wardo?!”

“ _Please_ , don’t try and act like a big man now Zuckerberg it really doesn’t work on me. I _promise_.”

“I’m asking you a question!”

“You’re yelling because you didn’t get your way!!”

“ **You** are the one who’s trying to drag things out, all I want is a straight answer! What in the hell could _possibly_ be in the way now!?”

“ _You’re_ in the _fucking_ way Mark!!”

“Oh Jesus **Christ** , What!? Now you hate me?! Make up your fricken mind already!”

“Yeah of course I fucking hate you Mark, just because I’m in love with you doesn’t mean I don’t fucking _hate_ you too!” he realized how it sounded, at this point words were just coming out and whatever filter he naturally had in his brain seemed to smash into pieces. “It literally took me suing you to get you to shut your fucking mouth and listen to me for once! Even then you still want me to feel bad for you because learning how absolutely miserable you made everyone around you feel made _you_ feel attacked!!”

“I’m giving you what I owe, aren’t I??!”

“Oh my **god** , because your lawyers couldn’t win the fucking case Mark, that doesn’t count as a good deed you prick.”

“Ok so I’ll just live the rest of my life feeling like shit because of the mistakes I made when I was in fucking college, sounds great, thank you!”

“It’s not just about when you were in college Mark! It’s about _you_! Still! Now! To this day! You **never** change! You never change because confronting your own faults is just so damn terrifying you’d rather lock yourself up emotionally! Just continue to let people think you’re a bad person for fucking ever!! You think you’re better than people who are genuinely good and kind because you think you’re too important to have to play by those rules, _you’re_ real, _you’re_ authentic; you’re a **_fucking_** asshole is what you are!!”

Ok he snapped, he definitely did not need to go that far, it was just that his adrenaline was building each time they went back and forth. He was fully expecting that Mark would have aces up his sleeve to use against him, so he just said all the bad things he used to grumble to himself after Mark did something insensitive to him. But Mark didn’t have any aces up his sleeve against Eduardo, or if he did he couldn’t think of them anymore, “Is that _really_ how you see me?” Is that really how I am? That question echoed in his head.

Eduardo felt suddenly uncomfortable, he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard Mark say something so defenseless before. He put his hand on his shoulder and started rubbing his thumb along the fabric of his hood unconsciously, “Mark, I always thought you were a good person deep down, I still think that you’re a good person deep down, it’s just that.. you got more opportunities to do good than practically anybody, and each time you chose to opt out in favor of isolating yourself, and it’s just, it’s hard to watch.” He didn’t see any point in lying to him, it wouldn’t do anyone any favors.

Mark didn’t say anything so he opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could even start Mark grabbed his shirt and yanked him back over to him, slamming their lips together. This was nothing like the first kiss, it felt strong and passionate and, if Eduardo was being honest, it turned him on ~~a _lot_~~ a bit.

“What was that?” Eduardo asked, clearly in a daze.

“You’re the one who said you loved me.”

“I said like”

“You said love”

“I **definitely** said like”

“Ok you said like, then you said love, then you said fucking _hate_ ” he gave a pretty decent Eduardo impersonation as he recalled what he’d said.

At this Wardo really couldn’t stop the smile creeping on his face, “Oh shit I guess I did say love.”

Mark grabbed his hand, “Eduardo, stay with me, _please_ , I don’t know how to be a good person on my own, I need you.”

Eduardo was bewildered, he could’ve fainted, he probably _would’ve_ fainted, if only he hadn’t heard those last three words, clear as a bell, _I need you_.

He wanted to cry, it was happening again it was just that this time Mark had made it even harder to refuse. He knew the tears were coming and he tried to blink them back, “I’m sorry Mark” he took his hand back and made his way to the door for the last time.

“I don’t understand Wardo” his voice was low, “If you didn’t want to be with me _why_ did you kiss me? Why’d you tell me how you felt?”

Eduardo knew the answer but it was an impossible one to give right now, so he kept walking, when he got to the door Mark called for him again and Eduardo could hear his voice crack. He owed him the truth, so he paused, he turned back towards him, and he answered, “I had to kiss you Mark.” this was the point his eyes gave up and the tears started rolling freely, “because I’m _never_ going to see you again.”

He meant it.

He was stalled in his tracks and he obviously had more that he wanted to say, but he couldn’t get himself to say it. Before he could lose all his resolve he flung the door open and rushed out, sniffing hard and trying to resist the temptation of looking back...

And then Mark was alone again, he felt more alone than he ever had, he felt like somebody had filled his veins with cement, he felt like dying. He knew that Eduardo was right to leave him because he was right about everything, and if he had stayed Mark only would’ve hurt him again. Still. This wasn’t a comfort to him shockingly enough.

He walked back on weak legs and crumpled into the seat he’d been in before to open the laptop again. His heart was beating and when he touched the laptop he became aware that his hands were sweating profusely, his own body was betraying his attempt at regaining some sense of cool. He’d forgotten what he’d been doing before Eduardo came in and he didn’t feel any comfort in the familiar screen; he hit refresh one more time......

“Fucckin bitch” was all Mark muttered before he lost it and broke into tears, burying his head into his hands, he couldn’t control the sounds he was making as he sobbed and he couldn’t be bothered to try. He had been wrong all along, he told himself that lie and he built on it through everything he did, he was a fucking idiot.

How could he have known there were things even Eduardo couldn’t put up with?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t hate Mark or anything but the actual movie had a serious lack of humiliating scenes where Mark sobs in a building all by himself; I am here to correct that mistake.


	7. Chapter 7

“Mark?” He poked the face of his friend gently to rouse him from his light sleep, “Mark I’m gonna go”

Mark groaned in that unique grumpy Mark way he often did when being woken up, then looked at Wardo like he’d just said something obscene about his mother. “You don’t have to go, my roommate’s spending the night in his girlfriends dorm, you could take his bed.”

“I should go”

Mark rubbed his temple, “whatever” he was clearly more disappointed than he wanted to let on, if Wardo stayed they could’ve kept hanging out the next morning, just seemed stupid for him to go.

Likewise, Wardo held down his own disappointment at Mark giving up so easily on the idea and nodded. He stood up, “Aren’t you gonna walk me to the door?”

“It’s literally like a foot away from you I think you can manage on your own” he said closing his eyes again. Eduardo was left disappointed yet again, but he decided he wasn’t going to take it too seriously. He looked down at Mark and thought about lightly punching him again to pay him back, but quickly realized that what he wanted to do was likely to freak Mark out even more so he went with that.

He leaned down and planted an exaggerated, sloppy kiss on Mark’s forehead, complete with the loud muah and everything. Mark’s eyes popped open and he quickly began wiping the spot where Wardo had kissed him as if to remove any germs it left behind, “ ** _guh!_** What the hell was that?” Eduardo shrugged.

“Weirdo”

He chuckled seeming pleased and went on to the door, Mark called out from the couch, “You’ll wait for me again tomorrow, right?”

He rolled his eyes and turned back, as if there was any question, “You know I always will Mark.”


End file.
